Genocider Leon AU (Untitled)
by rabbit-eared-warbler
Summary: Leon despised his alter. It didn't take much to figure out why.
1. Chapter 1

Leon **despised** his alter. He dreaded falling asleep because he knew he might not wake up as himself. He blacked out randomly and came back with a blank mind and a sinking feeling in his gut because he knew whatever she done, he couldn't have stopped her.

She _hurt_ people. She tortured and murdered them and left a guilty Leon to pick up the pieces. Syo was what she was called. He wasn't sure if she had a name before then, but he did know she picked it up and started using it because that's what everyone else called her. _Genocider Syo._

Leon tried to stop her. He hid her scissors from her, wrote her notes that pleaded with her to stop; Syo felt no empathy, and she always found a way. There were quite a few times he considered turning her in himself, and maybe it was selfish to vote against it because he didn't want to have to stay in jail because of something he didn't really do.

He could still remember when she first told him she was Genocider Syo. It was in a letter, and at first Leon didn't believe her (but some part of him always did). He wasn't sure how long she'd been doing this but he did know it'd been going on for quite a while.

The baseball player came to in the middle of Syo's work sometimes-or directly after. He'd catch sight of her mutilated prey and want to scream. The first time it happened, Syo had already finished the job; Leon took in the overwhelming metallic stench of blood and the scissors in his hands and dropped them, shaking as he promptly vomited next to the crucified body up for display. He'd cleaned up the evidence, walked home from the hotel, and tried to get some sleep. (He stared blankly at the wall the entire night, trying to shake the memory of the words "Bloodstain Fever" splattered across the white wall.)

He thought he was eight when she first came around. He remembered the way he'd started out confused but soon Leon was actually excited by the thought of a new special playmate. However, it was clear from the start that his other personality detested him. He wrote many letters and when she first responded, it was nothing like he'd expected.

He came home after school to find a note under his pillow written on the back of his own from a few nights before.

_Hey,_

_Why won't you ever write back? I'm not mean, I promise! Why don't you come out, friend? I know you usually come out when I'm scared or upset but that doesn't mean you can't talk to me. It'd be really awesome to have another boy to talk to! Do you have a name I should call you by? What do you do when you come out? What do you like to do for fun? Do you have a favorite color? What do you think of our pets, Saki and Kuzuu?_

_Hope you write back,_

_Leon_

Biting his lip and trying to contain his excitement, he'd scanned the letter.

_Heya,_

_Since you won't leave me alone, I guess I'll have to answer. We're not friends, Mr. Desperate-to-make-friends; I exist because you have rotten luck and you can't handle your awful life, so I come to take over. I'm not some imaginary friend for you to play with. Correction-I'm a girl, sorry to disappoint! All the other jazz is unnecessary to answer._

_Later!_

He could still perfectly recall the way his face had dropped and his mood plummeted, and suddenly he didn't feel like playing anymore.

That was a long time ago, though-that was even before things got really bad.

Now, everything was...too much. Leon wasn't a shy person by any means, but he tried to avoid getting too close to or attached to anyone so Syo couldn't become interested in them. After a while, he'd gotten used to her patterns. As a result, he became pretty withdrawn. He focused on keeping her in check much more than his school work or baseball.

Baseball-yes, that was something he'd thrown himself into. He'd wanted a distraction from everything so badly that it took him forever to realize he _hated_ the sport. By then he'd discovered his talent already, but he'd also discovered another aspiration: singing.

Leon excused his dream to anyone who asked by saying it was for the girls. Of course, that wasn't really true. With Syo around, the redhead wasn't sure he could ever be romantically involved with _anyone._ So far she'd only killed males, but Leon didn't think you could be too cautious in this situation.

Leon hadn't been so scared until the incident with Kyo when he was 14. But he never let himself think about that.

Now, well, he was getting settled at Hope's Peak Academy, and so far so good. Whatever bad there was, he could figure it out; he had to.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"Hey! Hey, Kyo-chan, wait up!" Leon laughed as he raced after the other boy.

"Nuh-uh," Kyo shouted without looking back, "Come on, I have to show you something!"

Sighing goodnaturedly, Leon chased him through the town, always a few steps behind.

Kyo Raien was a short, energetic boy with spiky, dark hair that reached past his ears. He was also kind, fun, insightful, and knew how to be serious when necessary. He was also very sweet, and his adorable smile blinding.

When Leon finally caught up to him, he wrapped his arms around his neck. "Gotcha!"

Kyo giggled a bit, slowing his walk. "That's 'cause we're here, dummy." He reached up to pat Leon's red hair, and the baseball player looked up.

"Whoa."

Kyo looked proud. "Mmhmm. Pretty cool, right?"

Leon laughed, letting go of the other. "You made this?"

"Yeah! I mean, not all of it, but...everything that's not faded is mine," Kyo replied, ducking under the old barbed wire fence. He led Leon to an old building covered in all kinds of art. It was covered in detailed chalk drawings-Leon had the deepest respect for anyone who could draw well with sticks of chalk-as well as paintings and what looked like a collage of crafts. He gaped.

"Dude."

"I know."

"So this is where you go when you're 'busy' on Fridays?" Leon cocked his head to the side. When Kyo nodded, he continued, "Why didn't ya just tell me? This is way cool!"

"Well, that's because, um…" Kyo put a hand to his black-framed glasses, thinking. "I've been making something for you," he finally admitted, "But it's not finished yet. I can show you tomorrow if you want? I just need to put some finishing touches on it."

Leon was beyond excited. "Always a perfectionist," he joked with a wide grin.

Kyo laughed a little. "Yeah, well, I wanted it to be perfect before I showed it to you."

Leon let out a happy sigh before he glanced upward at the darkening sky. "'s gettin' pretty late," he said reluctantly, "We should probably head home."

Kyo nodded sadly, turning to head back. "Okay. I can come show you where my house is; it's on the way to yours."

Even though they'd become friends almost immediately after meeting at the beginning of that school year, they hadn't really hung out after school. Tomorrow was a Friday, though, so maybe they could hang out after Kyo showed him the craft. Neither boy had seen the inside of the other's house.

They made their way home, chatting idly about everything and nothing at the same time as good friends do. As they reached a small brown house, Kyo slowed his walk, so Leon did the same. The teenagers turned to face one another, and Leon gave Kyo a parting nod. Before he could turn to leave, however, Kyo opened his mouth to speak.

"Wait! Um, Leon-kun…" He was smiling. "I really like hanging out with you. You're pretty cool. Sorry we didn't get to hang out longer." He paused, smile widening as he nodded at the redhead. "But we can have a ton of fun tomorrow!"

"Yeah," Leon promised, a grin forming on his own face as he began to walk away. "See ya tomorrow!"

With one last "bye!" and a wave goodbye to his friend, Kyo disappeared into the house.

When Leon got home, he immediately fled downstairs to his bedroom, dragging his backpack behind him. He flung the bookbag onto his bed and glanced at his alarm clock before climbing back up the stairs. His stomach grumbled in the dark and quiet kitchen; he just microwaved himself some leftovers and carried them downstairs.

By the time Leon was lying on his side and staring at the wall, waiting to fall asleep but not really trying to, it was only 8:00PM. Soon, though, his eyelids began to droop and sleep overcame him.

When Leon slowly blinked his eyes open, he found himself staring at his alarm clock, 4:03AM staring him in the face. Too exhausted to process any coherent thought, he snuggled into his comforter, almost immediately being pulled right back under.

He felt heavy when he awoke that morning. It definitely wasn't the first time he had a low mood for almost no reason, but that didn't mean it didn't still suck. He dragged himself through his morning routine, placated when he remembered his plans with Kyo.

Leon slipped out the door without a single word to his parents. The cool air made him shiver underneath his thin jacket, and the silence was a little unsettling. He shrugged it off, adjusting his backpack once and beginning the trek to school.

Since he now knew the way to Kyo's house, Leon decided he'd take the long way to school. He hummed softly to himself for a while, reaching the familiar building after four and a half songs. He cut himself off in the middle of a verse, heart dropping when he noticed police cars in the driveway and surrounding the street. Eyes wide, he ran over to one of the officers. _What happened?_

These were the first words out of his mouth when he approached the officer. "Wh-what happened?" he stammered, "Is Kyo-chan okay?" His mind was racing along with his heartbeat as he tried desperately to convince himself his friend was alright.

The officer hardly spared him a glance, blocking the path to the door. "I'm sorry, kid, but I can't disclose anything," she replied.

Leon stubbornly continued to try for a little while longer, but eventually he needed to give up. He was going to be late for school, but his mind was far too occupied for him to care. He suddenly didn't feel very well…

In the middle of his first class, the guidance counselor walked in. He talked with the teacher, the adults both glancing over to Leon as they spoke. The redhead averted his eyes, looking down at the desk until finally the counselor called him over. Leon swallowed nervously as he stood.

"Mr. Yin...?" he questioned once they were in the hallway. The teacher was looking at him sympathetically.

"I understand you're close with Mr. Raien, yes?" Mr. Yin asked, and Leon's heart seemed to stop.

He nodded slowly, trying to read the teacher's face. "Yeah, Kyo-chan's my friend...Is he okay?"

Sadly, Mr. Yin answered, "There was an incident, and...he didn't make it. I'm sorry, Mr. Kuwata."

Leon had stopped listening, though. _No. _He was interrupted from his staring off into space when Mr. Yin continued.

"I know how hard this is for you. If you want, the school can call your parents and send you home for the day." He appeared very concerned.

Leon shook his head emotionlessly. _They won't care. _His parents would probably just be cross with him for missing a day of school. He clenched his jaw, not making eye contact with the counselor as he replied, "No...It's fine...I c'n just..."

The student trailed off and walked back into his classroom, ignoring Mr. Yin's protests.

He went through classes the whole day like he was a zombie, and his teachers didn't push him too much when he forgot an answer or wasn't paying attention today. He imagined they all had heard the news, or at least that something was wrong. This was just as well; he wanted to be left alone.

Finally, during his second-to-last class of the day, he broke. Leon couldn't stand this. It had to be some sort of sick joke. He hadn't stopped thinking about it since the words "_he didn't make it" _reached his ears. Why had he had to _die_? They still had so much to do together; how much of Kyo's life was taken away from him? They'd promised so many things for today, and now he was _gone._ As Leon burst into angry, pained tears, he hid it best he could.

He hid his face in his hands; the girl next to him realized he was shaking and asked him if he needed anything, to which he shook his head. _Yeah. I need Kyo-chan to be alive,_ he thought, brushing off the other's concern.

When the final bell rang Leon scurried out of the room as quickly as he could, keeping his head down. He was about halfway home when a thought struck him, causing him to stop in his tracks. _Syo._

Leon threw his backpack to the ground. In the middle of the sidewalk, he hastily unzipped the bag and pulled out a small notepad. His mind was racing, jumbling everything together until all he knew was he HATED her. He could communicate with her somewhat just from sharing thoughts, but he really hated her getting to be in his mind like that. Therefore, the teary-eyed boy began to write.

_I HATE YOU. HOW COULD YOU? He was my best friend, and I know you don't like me but WHY? I hate you!_

It went on for a while, a stream of consciousness consisting of variations of "I hate you"s and "why"s, until finally, Leon just buried his face in his hands and cried. He blacked out at some point, but he came back only a few minutes later in the same position but with a different note in his hand.

_Well I'm not too fond of you either! Suck it up and get over it, Gloomy; you're getting tears all over the paper._

Leon sat still for a few moments of shock before throwing everything back into his backpack and spinning around to go in a different direction. Head pounding, he wiped his eyes as he sprinted in the direction of the path they'd taken the day before.

It took some hard thinking to remember the way there, but soon he found himself facing that old barbed wire fence. He took a deep breath. He'd only just been introduced to this place the previous day, but somehow it felt like he'd been coming there for much longer.

The redhead climbed up over the fence this time, throwing his backpack over before him and then jumping down himself. Leon closed his eyes for a moment, swallowing as he realized something that made him want to vomit. _I...killed someone. I hurt __**Kyo**__. It's my fault. It wasn't __**me**__, though! I couldn't stop it. Why couldn't I stop it? STOP IT!_

He closed his eyes, clawing at his scalp desperately in an attempt to make the thoughts go away, or maybe even to chase Syo out of his head. He cried out in agony, hating himself for crying so much today. He couldn't _breathe_. Maybe he'd had a little crush on Kyo but it was _more _than that. He was a human being, and he'd just been thrown away like a toy, as if his life had never had meaning at all. He'd be forgotten.

Leon sucked in a loud sob, running over to the wall where the art was. He dropped to his knees and began to rummage through a small pile of what looked like junk on the ground, not really sure what he was searching for. Eventually he came across a small picture frame built out of popsicle sticks, a photo of Leon and Kyo inside of it. His tongue was sticking out to the side as he gave the camera a wink, and Kyo's arm was extended as he took the photo with a huge grin on his face. The frame was decorated with red and black paint, a silver star in each corner and silver loopy handwriting on the top. It read, "_Thanks for everything, Leon!"_

Shakily, Leon brought the craft up and hugged it to his chest as if doing that would let him embrace Kyo. He remembered the way they'd told each other they'd see each other again the next day.

That was the story of how he learned never to make a promise for "tomorrow."


End file.
